Business Interest in Apple iPad Rising: Ingram Micro

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IT distributor Ingram Micro noted that the company is seeing more businesses interested in using Apple's iPad as a business tool. CEO Greg Spierkel commented on the tablet's rise following the distributor's quarter earning announcement.

Greg Spierkel, chief executive of Ingram Micro, said Apple has preferred to sell the iPad to retailers but that the company is increasingly letting his firm sell it to businesses.

"What it's telling us is that there's a (business to business) opportunity starting to develop for these devices, which is not necessarily where they were targeted initially," Spierkel told Reuters in an interview.

One significant use of tablets by businesses is by sales representatives in the field, he said.

Apple reported this month that it sold 4.19 million iPads in the quarter just ended, which was lower than expected due to supply and production bottlenecks.

Spierkel said that in the business environment, Ingram Micro customers are continuing to refresh personal computers and related systems, leading to double digit growth there.

Ingram Micro, the world's largest technology distributor, reported a third-quarter net profit of $65 million, or 41 cents per share, up from $42.3 million, or 25 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Sales rose 14 percent to $8.45 billion.

Excluding some items, it earned 44 cents per share. Analysts on average were expecting 43 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Ingram Micro shares were down about 1 percent in extended trading, after closing at $17.85 on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Steve Orlofsky

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